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You wouldn’t believe it, the singer says. At that moment gearing up for her first album release in eight years, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for ten years, feeling invincible. Then in March she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.

The musician, real name Jessica Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The LP, her latest release, was supposed to be an transparent story, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, losing a baby, broken romances, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Then second single, Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while all the while living with the disease. A month later she shared the news, and in early July she had a mastectomy.

She offers me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.

Our interview takes place at a photo studio in the capital. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and oversized specs. Think motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the film. “They used to call me that!” She grins. Jessie is fast-thinking, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her standup debut soon. “I enjoy humor. On stage I often tease the fans.”

Medical Challenges and Discovery

The artist was planning an slot at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d call on the Monday. By then she had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.

“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have come back as malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”

I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself

She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but this time I just walked with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my affected breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”

The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”

A History of Health Challenges

Cornish is familiar with health problems. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s used to medical emergencies. They have often coincided with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”

She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already beginning featuring in the stage in a musical (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a year.”

Wow, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees